BeşparmakBlog

Welcome to Beşparmak Blog Spot, home to over 100 items covering topics like Turkish and Eastern Mediterranean Affairs, Green Energy, Transport and Cultural covering Turkey, Asia Minor, Syria and Iran. Essays include topics such as Women's Rights and Human Trafficking. Weekly articles are published by Star Newspaper Group in North Cyprus and Istanbul with readership deriving from the UK, USA, Russia, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Holland, geographical Europe, Far East, Australia and New Zealand.

Thursday, 18 October 2018

Very soon, not only here in Great Britain but in many
countries around the world, we will be celebrating Remembrance Day (unless you
are a Cambridge University Student or Jeremy Corbyn) and this will be
especially poignant this year due to it being the 100th year since
the ending of what became the First World War, also known as The Great War. The
vast majority of British families here today will have had relatives who served
and quite possibly paid the ultimate price during that immense struggle, a
conflict that claimed vast numbers of mainly very young men. Our family lost
our Great Grandfather on our Fathers side and two Great Uncle’s on my Mothers
Maternal side of the extended family. Subsequently, the Second World War came
and went, and many conflicts have occurred since. One of the principles at
stake was Freedom of Expression and Speech. This important principle is now
more endangered from the threat of ‘Political Correctness’ and legislation
influenced by what has become referred to as the PC Brigade although as
‘Brigades’ go, I would not wish to place too much trust in them at all given
that they comprise of weak liberals and ‘Conchies’ (Cowards).

We now seem to have ‘armies’ that are not poised to defend
our country but are constantly trawling social media in all its forms to see if
anyone has ‘offended’ anyone either actually, or perceivably and in the case of
Facebook, many are placed into virtual ‘jail’ for the crime of speaking one’s
mind or expressing a strongly held opinion yet as distinct from our legal
system where you are deemed innocent until proven guilty, today there is not
only a presumption of guilt there is no opportunity to offer any form of
defence or justification of one’s words and actions. Sentencing is perfunctory
and ‘execution’ immediate with no appeal. I am on yet another such 30-day trip
to Facebook jail despite simply telling the truth in relation to a criminal of
Nigerian origin. I cited my own experiences of being twice in Nigeria, all of
which was negative in the extreme, to back up my observation of not only the
individual but his kind in general and some weakling clearly flagged my comment
to the FB ‘thought Police’ and the rest is history. The same occurs on 'Twatter' and I am currently on my second suspension now, this time for a week for the heinous 'offence' of advocating dealing with returning IS/Da'Esh 'jihadi's with immediate terminal action: Pathetic reaction by the PC Brigade!

In the national aspect, once again Freedom of Speech is under
potential threat by recent legislation known as Hate Crime. If applied with
equality and equanimity, in a society of myriad cultures, then this is not in
principle such a bad thing however in practice, it seems to serve to ‘protect’
just one social grouping, non-indigenous to our nation (nor is their Faith) and
it is a one-way street; we only have to say something seen as out of place and
its jail for real but the quid pro quo rarely applies and this is entirely
wrong. My article, “The Pen is mightier
than the sword” published in January 2015 in the aftermath of Charli Hebdo
in Paris is a stark example of how Freedom of Speech is threatened, and this
was made far worse by virtue of the fact that the crime was committed effectively
by ‘invaders’ and aliens.

Recently, the Hate Crime legislation is being asked to take
into account other ‘concerns’ from the shivering, hand-wringing weakling mob
and interestingly, one of these items is that of Misogyny and in this regard, I
am personally wholly supportive for my experiences in certain parts of the
world especially the Middle East and Asia Minor has shown me the trait in all
its inglorious gory and is especially prevalent in the societies that are from
that area of the world and this has spread to the many countries where they
have migrated to including here in the UK. There can be no doubt whatsoever
that misogyny is an integral part of the Faith they practice, but presumably if
we then act against the perpetration of same, then the ‘defence’ will be one
that doing so ‘offends’ said credo and this could not only end the initial
action but have dire consequences for the plaintiff! A truly crazy scenario indeed.

The public expression of firmly held views is now likely to
earn you a label that may end in ‘ist’ or a word ending in ‘phobic’. There is a
perceptible fear that in a public place such as a Pub, the passing of an
opinion is likely to ‘offend’ someone in earshot even though they may not be
involved in the actual discussion and as such, Freedom of Speech is further
impacted. Unsurprisingly, I am frequently so labelled – usually by lefties and
liberals – and often chastised for potentially ‘offending’ some snowflake or
whatever.

Recently, I have seen a 3-stage photo montage which depicts
teenagers in the factories in the 19th century in the first, then
teenage lads in military uniform in WW1 and thirdly 21st century
kids ‘sobbing’ because someone has ‘offended them’! I’m very glad I am the age
I am now and have learned all I am learned from around the world on my many
travels than be young today in 2018.

Thursday, 12 July 2018

Below
is an actual letter that was sent to a bank by an 86 year old
woman. The bank manager concerned, thought it amusing enough to have it
published in The Times.

Dear Sir:

I am writing to thank you for bouncing my cheque with which I endeavoured to
pay my plumber last month.

By my calculations, three nanoseconds must have elapsed between his
presenting the cheque and the arrival in my account of the funds needed to
honour it..

I refer, of course, to the automatic monthly deposit of my entire pension,
an arrangement which, I admit, has been in place for only eight years.

You are to be commended for seizing that brief window of opportunity, and
also for debiting my account £30 by way of penalty for the inconvenience
caused to your bank.

My thankfulness springs from the manner in which this incident has caused me
to rethink my errant financial ways. I noticed that whereas I personally
answer your telephone calls and letters, --- when I try to contact you, I am
confronted by the impersonal, overcharging, pre-recorded, faceless entity
which your bank has become.

From now on, I, like you, choose only to deal with a flesh-and-blood person.

My mortgage and loan repayments will therefore and hereafter no longer be
automatic, but will arrive at your bank, by cheque, addressed personally and
confidentially to an employee at your bank whom you must nominate.

Be aware that it is an OFFENSE under the Postal Act for any other person to
open such an envelope.

I am sorry it runs to eight pages, but in order that I know as much about
him or her as your bank knows about me, there is no alternative.

Please note that all copies of his or her medical history must be
countersigned by a Notary Public figure, and the mandatory details of
his/her financial situation (income, debts, assets and liabilities) must be
accompanied by documented proof.

In due course, at MY convenience, I will issue your employee with a PIN
number which he/she must quote in dealings with me.

I regret that it cannot be shorter than 28 digits but, again, I have
modelled it on the number of button presses required of me to access my
account balance on your phone bank service.

As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Let me level the playing field even further.

When you call me, press buttons as follows:

IMMEDIATELY AFTER DIALLING, PRESS THE STAR (*) BUTTON FOR ENGLISH

#1. To make an appointment to see me

#2. To query a missing payment.

#3. To transfer the call to my living room in case I am there.

#4 To transfer the call to my bedroom in case I am sleeping.

#5. To transfer the call to my toilet in case I am attending to nature.

#6. To transfer the call to my mobile phone if I am not at home.

#7. To leave a message on my computer, a password to access my computer is
required.

Password will be communicated to you at a later date to that Authorized
Contact mentioned earlier.

#8. To return to the main menu and to listen to options 1 to 9

#9. To make a general complaint or inquiry.

The contact will then be put on hold, pending the attention of my automated
answering service.

While this may, on occasion, involve a lengthy wait, uplifting music will
play for the duration of the call.

Regrettably, but again following your example, I must also levy an
establishment fee to cover the setting up of this new arrangement.

May I wish you a happy, if ever so slightly less prosperous New Year?

Your Humble Client

And
remember:
Don't make old people mad. We don't like being old in the first place, so it

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About Me

During 2009, I developed a weekly newspaper column in the Cyprus Star, a weekly national newspaper in Northern Cyprus with the tag line Green Line. This is partly an allusion to the line which permanently divides Cyprus and partly a play on the words which includes my surname and 'line' implying the writing of 'lines'. I deal with matters of Turkish and Eastern Mediterranean Political, Environmental & Regional Affairs and in particular, issues relating to the island of Cyprus and where I strongly support the Turkish Cypriot cause and this column is entirely supportive thereof. Recently, I have been running a series of Friday Essays and supplementary articles which deal with a variety of topics and although I mainly work with Eastern Mediterranean affairs, I also explore wider issues as well, Environment, Renewable Energy and Socio-Political matters.

I continue to retain my position as a Director of the Maglev Movers Ltd company which deals in the field of Waste to Energy and Green Transport initiatives and I have been able to make use of my media connections to promote Green Energy and Green Issues in general.This column also appears in Turkey Star which is distributed on board all overseas Turkish Airlines flights every day, in addition to those handed to hotels in İstanbul and to some politicians. My long term goal is to write professionally, full time for newspapers in the wider Middle Eastern region. I do not, however rule out taking a position in the Civil Engineering industry once again should a suitable role become available, but writing is a great passion of mine. Currently actively seeking additional newspaper titles to write for on a freelance employment whilst Star Newspapers remain for the time being, to be the bedrock of my published articles. My website which contains the archive of my various articles and essays is as shown below.

Bee Orchid

www.paulakuitenbrouwer.com

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